Employment Act Of 1946

How many of you studied in history class? Can you tell us what was happening in 1946? [Crickets...repeat of "Bueller..." scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.]

Okay, we'll let you off the hook.

World War II ended in 1945. Most of the men who were in the armed forces were coming home in 1946. Meanwhile, the economy, which had spent most of the previous several years making bombs and planes and tanks and pin-up pictures of Rita Hayworth, was turning back to normal production (of things like record players, casserole dishes, and pin-up pictures of Betty Grable).

Meanwhile, people hadn't forgotten about the Great Depression, which had only ended about a half-decade before. And it only ended when the need to make tanks and bombs and stuff had kicked the economy into high gear.

So, in 1946, Congress passed a law where the government basically promised to do everything it could to keep employment high (and unemployment low). Remember...headed into the Great Depression, politicians like Herbert Hoover had basically told the masses of unemployed "it's not our problem...we're sure it will work itself out."

Now, most of a generation later, the federal government was explicitly announcing its intention to take a more proactive role in the economy, easing fears among returning servicemen and their families that the end of the war would mean a return to scarcity and unemployment.

Still, the law wasn't a full "right to employment" promise. It stopped short of guaranteeing people a job. Also, it kept one eye on inflation, taking into account conservative fears that long-term New Deal policies would lead to other economic problems.

In terms of hard policy, the law was pretty thin (it was more a statement of purpose than a working blueprint). However, it did establish the Council of Economic Advisors to give the president (you guessed it) advice about the economy. Within Congress, it set up the Joint Economic Committee.